By virtue of the considerable increase in vehicle ownership, in particular in large urban areas, the problem of vehicle parking is becoming more and more severe. In order to discourage drivers from leaving their vehicles parked for too long in the same place, the maximum duration for which parking is authorized is frequently reduced and sanctions are enforced for overstaying the time limit. In addition to reducing the maximum authorized parking duration, zones are spreading in which parking is not only regulated, but in which parking time must also be paid for, with the amount paid depending on the desired length of stay, up to a maximum permitted length.
In order to manage such payment for parking on the public highway, parking meters have been installed in sidewalks to receive payment for pairs of adjacent parking spaces. Drivers are required to insert money or money's worth into a slot in the parking meter corresponding to the desired period of parking. A mechanism including a clock movement is used to move a pointer whose position corresponds to the remaining permitted parking time. It is easy for people employed to check that parking is properly paid for to verify such parking meters; however, such meters suffer from the drawback that they can normally be positioned to control only one or two parking spaces. This means that a large number of such meters are required, and that collecting money from the meters becomes an expensive operation.
That is why proposals have been made for a new type of parking meter capable of collecting parking fees for a dozen or so parking spaces in the vicinity of the meter. Meters of this type are well known, at least in France. The driver parks on one of the parking spaces under the control of the meter and inserts coins into a slot in the meter to prepay a desired length of parking time. The meter includes a clock and electronic processing circuits for controlling, inter alia a printer device for printing out a parking slip. The important information on the slip comprises the date, the time at which paid-up parking expires, together with information relating to the location of the parking meter. The driver must place the parking slip behind the vehicle windshield so that the parking checker can check that parking is properly paid-for.
Checking the parking of vehicles under the control of such a parking meter requires rather more time than checking the parking of vehicles with individual clockwork pointers associated with each vehicle. This is because the checker firstly has to locate the parking slip, and having found the slip, the checker must check that the information printed on it is correct.
French patent application No. 85/08608 filed June 7, 1985 in the name of the present Assignee proposes to remedy this drawback by a new type of parking meter which simplifies the monitoring of parking. Each parking meter includes a keyboard at which a driver seeking to leave a car parked at one of the parking spaces controlled by the parking meter keys in the registration or "licence" number of the vehicle on the parking space. Electronic circuits in the parking meter include a memory for storing pairs of data items comprising a vehicle identification item and a parking time up item, with the time at which paid for parking expires being determined as a function of an amount of money inserted into the parking meter. The money may be inserted in the form of coins or in the form of a "card" such as a credit card or an electronic memory card, etc. When vehicles parked on parking spaces controlled by a given parking meter are to be checked, the checker merely has to interrogate the memory in the parking meter, by any suitable means, in order to discover whether the number on the number plate of a parked vehicle appears in the stored list of vehicle numbers whose paid for parking time has not expired. The checker may optionally inspect the parking time limit associated with the stored number. A solution of this type is simpler for the driver since there is no need to go back to the vehicle with the parking slip and ensure that it is visibly displayed. It is also simpler for the checker since information about authorized parking and parking time limits is to be obtained in a standardized manner at the parking meter.
On large roads or on large parking lots of the type commonly found close to commercial centers, it is necessary to provide a large number of such parking meters for the convenience of drivers. However, the convenience factor provided by having a large number of meters is somewhat limited since the driver must make use of the particular parking meter associated with the parking space actually used. In addition, if parking time is to be extended, the driver must return to the same parking meter in order to insert more money and the corresponding vehicle identity information. Similarly, a checker must begin the inspection of each individual parking zone by interrogating the corresponding parking meter, before actually looking at the number plates of the vehicles parked within the zone. This constitutes time wasted.
With conventional parking meters for controlling a zone of parking spaces, i.e. with meters which do not include a keyboard and which deliver a slip which must be visibly displayed for the purposes of checking that parking has been paid for, the meter comprises electronic circuits for determining the value of coins inserted, for calculating the time at which paid for parking expires, and for controlling the printer, etc. It often happens that these electronic processing circuits also include a memory for storing information such as the number of vehicles which come to park during the day, the total amount of parking fees paid, the average duration of paid for parking, etc. This information is periodically transferred from the parking meter memory to some other form of memory for use for statistical and other purposes. Since most parking areas have a plurality of independent parking meters on them, information must be transferred successively from the memory of each parking meter, thereby requiring each parking meter to be provided with means suitable for performing the transfer, for example: line transmission means, infrared transmission means, etc.
There are other situations in which a battery of slot machines are used to receive payment for the same or similar goods or services. For example, large railway stations are frequently equipped with slot machines which dispense tickets which are paid for using coins and which are selected as a function of destination, entitlement to half fare, class, etc. In addition to the electronic circuits necessary for processing the money inserted via the coin slot, the destination and tariff information as keyed in, and the ticket printer, such ticket dispensers may also include a memory for storing data corresponding to the transactions performed. This data is read periodically for several reasons, including monitoring the behavior of the ticket dispenser and obtaining travel statistics. Naturally, large railway stations require large numbers of such ticket dispensers.
Here again, it becomes necessary to interrogate each ticket dispenser individually in order to monitor proper operation thereof. This considerably increases the time taken to inspect each machine, and also complicates the structure of the machine since it must include means by which the data may be read from its memory.
Preferred implementations of the present invention provide a system of memory slot machines avoiding the above drawbacks. Parking meters and ticket dispensers are merely examples of the kind of slot machine to which the invention is applicable. The essential characteristics of such a machine are that it accepts money or money's worth in payment for goods or services and that it includes a memory for storing information concerning the transactions which it has performed.